The
three friends hurried through the forest. The moon shone over the
trees and lit their way. The air was fresh and cold. Robin woke up
due to the movement and he groaned because he felt every step like a
shot through his trembling body. "John, please..." he whispered.
"We're going to help you, Robin. Stay calm and hold on,
please!" John responded. Robin felt himself slipping into
unconsciousness and gave in.
An hour later they arrived at
the bottom of the small hill where the stones of Rhiannon's Wheel
shone in the moonlight. Erected hundreds of years ago, when the
people still believed in the old gods and the natural way of life.
But those places never lost its spirituality. Especially this night
they all could feel it. John stopped and laid Robin down. "Wait
a moment. I'm out of breath!" John gasped. Robin regained
consciousness.
Slowly he opened his eyes and called for his wife.
"Marion!"
The girl knelt at his side. "Hold on, my love.
We're at Rhiannon's Wheel. Herne will help us here!"
Robin
shook his head and a thin smile appeared on his lips. "It's too
late..." he whispered.
"No, Robin..." Marion took him into
her arms. Robin's body was trembling. She saw that some wounds had
opened again. The blood was seeping into the bandages. Robin's head
leaned heavily on her shoulder.
Edward and John looked at
each other sadly. Edward moved and walked towards Rhiannon's Wheel.
He wanted to call for Herne's help. John stayed with Marion and
Robin. He knelt at Robin's side. Robin's breath was shallow.
"Don't be sad..." he whispered. "If
you...don't...forget...what...we...have...done...together...then
I'll never die...I can't die then..." Robin coughed.
John
couldn't believe it. "Don't do this to us, Robin, please. We
all need you."
"I can't...John...I haven't the
strength..."
Marion started to weep. Robin could feel himself
starting to turn away. He felt death coming and he knew that he
hadn't much time. "Marion...I love you...with all my
heart...and...John...Please...do as you...promised me...Take care of
her!"
John nodded, tears steaming into his beard. He grabbed
Robin's hand, "I will. I promise you on my life!"
Robin
looked back to his wife: "Marion..." She brushed his hair off his
forehead, held him more closely, and whispered again and again that
she loved him. His wonderful green eyes looked at her lovingly for a
long time. Then John felt how Robin's hand lost its strength.
A
trembling rushed through his weak body and a last shallow breath went
out with a barely heard sigh. His eyes closed then Robin was gone.
Marion could hardly believe it. "No-oo, Robin, noo-oo," she
wept bitterly.
Neither Marion nor John moved for some time. Then said, with a struggle, "Let's take him inside Rhiannon's Wheel, which is how it was meant to be."
Marion, feeling
like she was in a nightmare, only nodded.
John lifted Robin's
dead body into his arms and took inside Rhiannon's Wheel. Edward
met them halfway and told them that he hadn't felt Herne's
presence anywhere. He saw that Robin was dead and stared at the body
in disbelief and sadness. John laid Robin down in the centre of the
stone circle.
Marion knelt at his side and shouted angrily at the
silent stones: "And now? You told me that we should come here, and
now everything is over? Why? Just so we could come here to see him
die in the cold? Come out, Herne! Does a father behave like this?"
But there was no answer. Marion fell into despair.
She stroked a
hand over her husband's lifeless features. "Oh, Robin, why have
you left me alone?"
"He hasn't left you yet!"
a voice said to her. Marion looked up. "And he hasn't left us.
Think about what I have said to you, Marion!"
It was Herne,
though she only heard his voice in her mind.
"You told me that
he is beyond your power – and now he is dead!" she answered him
bitterly.
"He was beyond my power from the beginning, that's
true. I told you that the Powers of Light and Darkness aren't with
him any longer, but you're a part of him and, so, he's not beyond
your power!"
Herne appeared in front of her. "Remember
and you'll understand!" The horned god of the forest lifted his
arms, and Marion felt a clear, bright wave touch her. She remembered
the day when she was brought back to life by her husband and
understood.
"My power of love can bring him back?" she asked.
"If you're ready to risk your life for him, then your power
will be strong enough. Only true love can do that," Herne
explained. "Quick, the doors to the otherworld won´t stay
open for very long!"
Marion nodded, with firm will she laid her
hands on Robin's body, and let the wave run through her body into
his.
"So let the Wheel turn once more..." Herne said with a
solemn voice.
John and Edward noticed that strange things were
happening around them, but they weren't able to move.
When
Marion touched the world beyond, the first sensation she experienced
was the same pain Robin felt. She shared all of his feelings for a
moment and then she found him. She stretched out her hand and caught
him, before he could vanish completely into the world of the dead.
Robin felt her presence in surprise and noticed what she did.
Then they heard Hernes voice: "Sometimes the power of love can
be stronger than the power of the gods themselves. So it was meant to
be from the beginning. The path to the future is clear once again.
Now go back, my children, and live!"
It seemed to them that
hours went by, but it took only minutes. Then they found they were
back at Rhiannon's Wheel.
Robin opened his eyes and sat up. He
was alive and healthy. Marion cried out in happiness and embraced her
husband. Herne smiled and turned away. "It is done..."
Marion
and Robin kissed each other passionately. Robin held Marion's face
between his hands and looked at her. "You brought me back," he
said calmly, tears in his eyes.
"You have done the same for me.
I can't let you go. I need you, Robin. I need you!" She laid her
head on his chest, and Robin nodded slowly, stroking her hair.
"Thank you, Marion, for all you have done for me," he
whispered, shivering when he thought back to everything that had
happened.
"I've seen everything, Robin," Marion answered
through her tears. "I felt the same pain for a moment and I
understand what you were going through. I love you. Oh my God, how
much I love you!"
Both embraced and looked deeply into each
other's eyes. Marion wiped Robin's tears away with her fingers.
His green eyes shone bright and clear again.
John and Edward
couldn't believe their eyes at first, but then Edward noticed
Herne's presence and he knew what had happened.
John caught
Robin as he stood up. His embrace was very strong, and Robin couldn't
breath for a moment. "Gently, John. I still need air to breathe."
"I'm sorry," the giant apologized. "I'm so happy that
you're with us!"
Robin smiled softly and said to John: "Thank
you."
"For what?"
"For taking such good care of me. I
have to thank everyone, but especially you and Marion," Robin said.
John hugged him again. "We all love you, Robin, and we're all
afraid of losing you!" he said quietly, looking down at Robin's
body. The only reminders of the ordeal were the scars from the arrows
and some thin lines where the lashes and the cuts had been.
Robin
followed his look and sighed: "I still can't understand how I
survived it for so long!"
Marion gave him a blanket against the
coldness, kissed him and said quietly: "You're stronger than you
sometimes admit." Then they saw the pale light of the winter sun
over Rhiannon's Wheel and morning came.
Suddenly they heard more voices, and their friends approached the hill, out of the fog that was lying under the hill. Their friends could hardly believe what had happened when they heard it, but they were all happy that Robin was alive.
Later, they left Rhiannon's Wheel together and walked back towards Sherwood. Robin and Marion were walking arm in arm, close to each other, anxious not to be parted again. But there were no such plans.
Not in the near future, Herne thought, as he watched them entering Sherwood. But he had to talk to Robin soon. There was more work he had to do. The poor, the desperate and the powerless still needed his help.
Herne turned and then disappeared into the forest as well.